Under the ocean blue, swam a mermaid or two, a school of fish, a sugar starfish, and an octopus cried boo hoo! (he was about to be mermaid food!)
For weeks my daughter and I had been planning her mermaid party (for her 6th birthday), and the day finally arrived! Mermaid invitations had been sent out:
Everything for the party had been thought out, but we had to do all the decorating last minute! (nothing new there!) Our dining room was transformed into under the sea caverns. 
Blue and purple origami fish swam by in schools (made by little mermaid’s big mer-sister!)
Under the table was the Secret Sea Cavern, where the girls could hide, relax on some sand-colored pillows and blankets and watch some Backyardigans mermaid movies for a little while…
This little mermaid was hanging around in her undersea world (hanging from some fishing line) 
She was the inspiration for this party! See Mermaid Color Palettes. Swimming by was her friend the Paper Jellyfish.
Starfish crafts were popular and expanded the undersea population. How-tos for crafts are here.
Many of them drifted up into the “fishing net” suspended from the ceiling.
Silver glinted off the walls of the undersea caverns. (10 minute picture frame makeover: just covered up my wall-art with wrinkled tissue paper and ripped silver wrapping paper and secured with lots of green painters tape on the back!)
A sandy sand castle complete with shells and starfish appeared on the bottom of the ocean, 
along with beach glass and that rock that floats: pumice…
Mermaidy mirrors were around (dollar store) so our little mermaids could check out their face-paint (face painting by mermaid Avery)!
Surrounded by sea friends, our little mermaids were starting to feel hungry….but not exactly for seafood!
See some more under the sea party food ideas here. Guzzling down the “goldfish guts punch” (named by Carrie….hey get out of that punch!), 
the girls also munched on veggies and octopus dip, “clam sandwiches” and other goodies like oatmeal sand dollar cookies.
This is the octopus that was about to get eaten!!
After munching away for awhile, the little mermaids smacked around the piñata for a bit….
just waiting their turn….
to rip up the piñata!!
And after that, time to gobble up the purple octo pops that they had made during “crafting” time.
The party favor bags (piñata bags) were really organza wine-bottle covers from the 50 cent bin at Michaels, just perfect colors. Add a mermaid fin (glue or sew) and some fishy tags for great party bags!
A few more crafting ideas: cute clothespin mermaids….(painted body or silver paper wrapped body, glitter glue and ribbon)…
and a bottle filled with sand, paper “lucky stars” and shells and a small paper boat (this would be more fun for the boys…if any were brave enough to show up at a mermaid party!)
Wrap the end with “pearl” bracelets from the dollar store (I sure got a lot of use out of those bracelets!!)
The girls (and I) decorated some cake box favors, and I made some to match the cake, 
Here are some variations of mermaid cake. 🙂
Ahh, we’ve come to the end of another party! And I know the photos make everything look less crazy than they really were, but that’s ok. My little mermaid and I had fun (and work) celebrating her birthday. I think she’s already coming up with ideas for next year’s party…..!
denna's ideas 